Absorbent articles for personal hygiene, such as disposable diapers for infants, training pants for toddlers, adult incontinence undergarments, and/or sanitary napkins are designed to absorb and contain body exudates, in particular large quantities of urine or menses. These absorbent articles comprise several layers providing different functions, for example, a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent core disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet, among other layers.
The function of the absorbent core is to absorb and retain the exudates for a prolonged amount of time, for example, overnight for a diaper, minimize re-wet to keep the wearer dry, and avoid soiling of clothes or bed sheets. The majority of currently marketed absorbent articles comprise as absorbent material which is a blend of comminuted wood pulp with superabsorbent polymers (SAP) in particulate form, also called absorbent gelling materials (AGM). Absorbent articles having a core consisting essentially of SAP as absorbent material (so called “airfelt-free” cores) have also been proposed but are less common than traditional mixed cores.
Some absorbent articles may typically comprise leg cuffs which provide improved containment of liquids and other body exudates. Leg cuffs may also be referred to as leg bands, side flaps, barrier cuffs, or elastic cuffs. Usually, each leg cuff comprises one or more elastic strings or elements comprised in the chassis of the diaper, for example, between the topsheet and backsheet in the area of the leg openings to provide an effective seal while the absorbent article is in use. These elasticized elements which are substantially planar with the chassis of the absorbent article will be referred to herein as gasketing cuffs. It is also usual for the leg cuffs to comprise raised elasticized flaps, herein referred to as barrier leg cuffs, which improve the containment of fluid in the leg-torso joint regions.
Absorbent articles generally have a high absorbent capacity and the absorbent core may expand several times its weight and volume. These increases may cause the absorbent articles to sag in the crotch region as they become saturated with liquid, which may cause the barrier leg cuffs to partially lose contact with the wearer's skin. This may lead to a loss of functionality of the barrier leg cuffs, with the increased possibly of leakage.
Although various solutions to this problem have been proposed, the field can benefit from additional channel and/or pocket configurations that improved leakage prevention in absorbent articles.